Friday, August 31, 2012

“...being the ant, I never understood the pleasure of barely slipping something in under the wire.”

-Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty

DAY 19, Friday: Mid 70’s. Hazy. Threatening rain.

48" marble shard lining is complete

Dearest readers,

Woo-hoo! Step by step, shard by marble shard, the lining of the hole is up to the rim. It needs some finessing where it meets the surface of the earth, the small shaft descending below the floor has to be re-excavated, and the ladder positioned inside it, but right now, I need to run. The sky is black, wind is whipping, feels like rain on the way...gotta tarp the hole and go. (I'm going to buy myself a double chocolate donut at Dunkin' Donuts!)

Lining this earthwork project with
marble shards is like knitting a very heavy scarf. It’s a peaceful, repetitive process
that keeps on growing. I lay out a ring of marble possibilities around the rim,
jump into the hole (carefully), then go round and round trying different pieces
to find the best fit. Sometimes I hammer and chisel the shards to fit into a
particular spot. When I dug the hole, I made it taper from 42" in diameter at the top down to 32" diameter. It gives a greater illusion of depth, and allows the shards to lean back slightly against the dirt walls as the un-mortared stack climbs upward.

Stacking pattern closeup

Getting out of the hole is a
challenge, but my arms are getting stronger, and I can hoist myself back up if
I gingerly find one secure toehold on the stacks of marble. As the wall rises,
I’m not so bent over. My back is thankful for that!

32"-39" high

I've completed over 2/3rds of the lining. The
height around the cylinder is now between 32” and 39”! (I still need to dig out all the silt from the small diameter hole below the piece of wood...another day.)

I'll close with two heart-hole
drawings. One is like the heart continents of Pangea hovering over a hole. The other
shows a double heart with holes through the aorta, veins and arteries.

I tarped the hole yesterday and it
worked! Despite a night of showers and a downpour at noon today, the walls of
the hole held! Miss Julie Puttgen, formerly of Atlanta visited today from
Lebanon, NH. Here she is looking down the hole after we peeled back the tarp.
Everything is wet, but no visible water damage.

The sun emerged as Julie and I
walked the grounds of the Carving Studio here in West Rutland. Ripples of sun
reflected from the eddies of blue water in one of the four abandoned marble quarries,
and flickered “like flames” as Julie said, along the marble walls. The
sculpture interns swim here, along with local kids who arrive with towels over
their shoulders. The quarries are described as skylights above a deep network
of underwater marble mines, tunnels and grottos.

I stacked more layers of marble
shards...a patient puzzle of balance and compatible shapes. One side of the
hole now has 22” of marble lining. The opposite side is 24” from the floor. I’m encountering
those pesky projecting wall boulders and figuring out how to incorporate them
within the jig-saw of marble strips. Fun!

“One day Persephone, the young maiden of spring, was
picking wildflowers with her mother Demeter, the goddess of grain...The earth
began to rumble. Suddenly the ground cracked open, splitting fern beds and
ripping flowers and trees from their roots. Then out of the dark depths sprang
Hades, god of the underworld...Hades grabbed Persephone and drove his chariot
back into the earth. Then the ground closed up again, leaving not even a seam.”

Nature is fighting back, trying to
reclaim the hole. A driving rain on Saturday, the first in the two weeks I’ve
been digging, flowed sideways under the protective canopy, and poured down into
the hole, dragging clay from the walls onto the floor, burying parts of the two
rows of marble shards I had stacked up earlier in the day, and filling in 10”
of the 18” smaller shaft with wet silt. When I arrived at the hole site, I
was in “shock”.

But after a few minutes of whining, it was time to just surrender to what happened, instead of struggling with the way things were. I’m not often successful at this, but this time I was.

So...I got to work again.

2 new layers of marble

First I removed the now caramel
colored, formerly white marble shards that form the collar of stone around the rim of the small
shaft. (I like the new earthier tint.) I positioned a temporary piece of wood
over the little hole so I could have more space to put my feet. I dug out the
two rows of the thin marble lining that I had laid on Saturday, leaving them
colored brown, and scraped out a pail full of soil from the floor. I laid two new layers of marble, scraping the walls, and maneuvering around the boulders that stick out of the walls. The circle has become an oval.

Choosing the right sized shard

Next, I arranged an assortment of
the long marble shards along the rim, that Lianides, the Polish
sculptor-in-residence let me use. These are discards from his megalithic stone
carving in progress.

Positioned along the edge like this made it easy for me to
grab what I needed. I’ll have some help Tuesday and Wednesday I hope, when friends come
and hand me the shards so I will not need to keep climbing out and dropping
myself down in.

Etta the Sculpture Dog

Etta is free to roam, but after a few days of exploring, she now chooses
to rest nearby. One artist has dubbed her “Sculpture Dog”.

Tight space

I don’t have a lot of room to bend
down as I line the walls with the marble, but it is a peaceful process. Finding
the shard with the most suitable height and width to ring the wall is a
meditative, albeit dirty, trial and error process–like doing an earthwork jig-saw
puzzle. Each shard has a long, flat top and bottom, and rough, slightly curved
sides, about one or one and a half inches high. I'm stacking them on top of
each other, alternating rows like bricks without mortar. It’s critical to be
sure each row is secure before proceeding to the next level. Sometimes I need
to chisel away an edge to create a better fit. None of the shards are the same
size, edge or curve.

16" of marble lining

This is how I left the hole.
I completed 16” of layered marble shards and managed to round out the oval somewhat. Rain is in the forecast. I
tarped the hole this time. We’ll see what the space looks like when I return! Three more hole drawings below. I call them boat holes to appease the god of rain.

Boat Hole and Tunnel #2-9" x 12"-charcoal and pastel on paper

Boat Hole and Tunnel #1-9" x 12"-charcoal and pastel on paper

Boat Hole above a Black Hole in the Deep-9" x 12"-charcoal and pastel on paper

Saturday, August 25, 2012

“A ladder, black from smoke projected through the hole.Looking down into the chamber the two brothers saw an old woman, the Spider Woman, who glanced up at them, and said: ‘Welcome children. Enter...Perhaps you would seek your father?’ ‘Yes’, they answered, ‘If only we knew the way to his dwelling.’ ‘Ah!’ said the woman, ‘It is a long and dangerous way to the house of your father, the Sun.’”

The ladder is done! (I may trim it shorter...not sure yet.) Rick Rothrock, one of the sculptors here at the Carving Studio in West Rutland, VT helped me hoist it up and then down into the small shaft hole inside the big hole. I’m pleased. This took me five half-days to complete. I had to learn how to lash, how to choose strong wood, and to go through the learning process of trying, failing, and then rejecting the drilling and screwing together of pieces. I opted for the primitive look. I started with aspen saplings that were already felled, but soon switched to choosing my own branches and boughs to get the right color wood, and the correct diameter and length for each rung. The ladder splays out from the base, getting thinner as it rises, requiring each rung to be longer and slimmer that the previous one. I did a lot of tree harvesting and sawing to get the right sizes. Here are my tools.

Ladder-making tools

I tried unsuccessfully to patch the broken rim of the small hole, using clay donated by Miss Ginger Birdsey of Ripton. I kneaded it with thin straw, like a mud roof in Africa, and pinned the pieces in place with those little shish kebab skewers from Hannaford’s Supermarket.

Trying to fix the small rim with clay, straw and wooden skewers

It’s not going to work. I didn’t have enough clay, but the patches are not secure. The wall of the small hole is too full of small marble stones that want to dislodge whenever I stick a skewer into the sides. So, I put the collar of flat marble shards back around the hole to create a smaller diameter edge. I left the clay, straw, and sticks in place. Can’t hurt.

Marble hand-chiseling tools

I used these marble chiseling tools to trim the collar of stone. Still unsure about the look of that ring of white marble. Not quite right.

Discarded marble strips for the walls of the hole

Jonathan, the Studio Manager fork-lifted a pallet of long, flat-bottomed marble pieces and deposited them near the hole. The stone strips were carved away and discarded by Lianides, the Polish artist-in-residence, as he continues his Herculean drilling into a marble megalith.The tops and bottoms are smooth. The sides and ends are rough.

I layered a couple rows of these marble strips around the perimeter of the hole floor, stacking them up against the mud walls, chiseling some into smaller pieces to fit. The idea is to line the entire four-foot deep hole with them right up to the top, but now I’m having doubts. It’s getting pretty “busy” down there.

That’s it for the second week of work. Day of rest tomorrow (Sunday). Here’s one more hole drawing with a ladder, surrounded by the swirling cosmos.

I’ve got the hang of it now, and a rhythm as I wrap. My style is tight, and as aesthetically crisp as possible.

Unfortunately the twine is rough and cutting. The big worker gloves are too clumsy to wear as I interweave the sisal, while keeping the ends super taut. Tomorrow I’m going to wrap my fingers in adhesive tape. Six more rungs to go!

Meet some of the marble carvers on site, grinding and polishing away. The noise is a symphony of dental-ish drilling. The marble dust rises in clouds.

I feel better today. Louis, a marble sculptor working at the Carving Studio, showed me how to create the first rung on my aspen sapling ladder using the boyscout method of lashing with natural twine, like jute or sisal string. He started by showing me how to make a clove hitch knot and how to attach it to a piece of branch that I had sawed to size for the first rung. Louis worked the twine in figure 8’s around and down, under and up the end of the rung and the pole of the sapling. He finished it off with the familiar square knot. The trick is keeping the line tight at all times. I improved on the method by notching an angled trough in each pole for the next round rung-stick to nest snugly inside. The lashing was surprisingly strong and stable.

Mole and cricket trapped in the small hole. Mole clawed away at base on left side.

When I arrived at the dig site this morning, I discovered a trapped cricket and a brown furry mole at the bottom of the hole. I thought the mole had dug her way in, but she kept running around the perimeter and it appeared that she had tried to dig horizontally into the wall to escape, but only managed to destroy the shape of the cylindrical shaft of the lower hole.

Ethan, another marble sculptor put on gloves and scooped Miss Mole out of the hole and gently placed her in the brush on the opposite side of the road. Not sure if she’ll make it. She squealed and squeaked like a little mouse. Then she did not move. Moles need to eat a steady supply of insects and earthworms to satisfy their hyper metabolism. I forgot all about the lonely cricket in the excitement of removing the mole.

Ethan completes his marble figurative sculpture-"Reach" in 4 days

This is kind-hearted mole-man Ethan who finished this marble sculpture, entitled “Reach” in four days. I saw him starting it on Sunday from a sharp hunk of white marble. It is now Wednesday. I’m in awe of his speed, skill and vision.

Today was a bust. I was “all
thumbs” as my mother would say–swallowed up by the whale of this new
woodworking phase of the hole project.

I mangled the leafy tops of my
aspen saplings while setting them up in the shaft of the well, and had to trim
them off.I was unsuccessful in
making even one rung on the sapling ladder-to-be. I shattered the rung wood
even after carefully drilling holes with the thinnest drill bit and using
narrow screws. Grrrrr. Right now I want to bite the drill. I left the Carving
Studio early so I could chill. (Breathe deep, Cecelia. Tomorrow is another
day).

Chiseling channels for the rungs to rest upon

Earlier, I was actually proud of
myself for figuring out how to use wood carving tools to carefully create a low
flat area on each sapling for the rungs to lie against, and for successfully
wielding a small, sharp hand saw in making cuts. The rung wood later shattered. I think the problem was too short
screws that were meant for sheetrock, and too old branches for the rungs. I was
lazy when I found the long, dry branch on the ground. (It was a perfect size).
I really need to take the time to cut the right branch from a living tree. End of today's story.

I bought a selection of wood
screws tonight at a hardware store, plus two types of natural twine. Louis, one
of the stone cutters, suggested I lash the rungs to the poles with jute or
sisal like the boy scouts do. He’s going to show me how to knot it nice and
tight. Somehow that does not appeal to me, but I’ll watch his demo tomorrow,
and weigh the aesthetics and difficulty of the rope vs screw approach to ladder
making.

Historic downtown, West Rutland Vermont

I shot one photo of the tiny historic downtown section of West
Rutland on my way out of town today. (It’s five miles from my place in Rutland.)
Some of the stores are empty. West Rutland’s heyday was probably the mid-1800s
to the mid-1900s when the Vermont Marble Company quarries were in full swing. I
saw a grain elevator in town, shops and a few restaurants, but no other obvious
signs of industry, and very few people on the streets.

Phase Two of the hole project is
already complete. Hurrah! I hit a shelf of marble today at
a depth of 18” inside the small hole that's within the larger hole. I bludgeoned the
rock with a long, heavy metal pry bar, using its own formidable weight and
gravity to slam down on the stone. I chipped away about two inches of solid
marble and have now called it quits for the digging phase of the hole project. My
face turned bright red. I’m now down 5-1/2 feet from the upper surface. It’s a
beautiful, raw hole.

I inadvertently broke the rim of
the small hole when I was crashing down on the lower rock. The nice crisp
circular edge is gone. I’ve tried wetting some of the excavated clay and
patching it, but it would not hold. I welcome any suggestions.

Test ring of scrap marble to re-create the rim.

I tested making
a collar of rock around the rim from flat pieces of discarded marble. I’m not sure I like it. Right now
those stones are wobbly. I would need to dig them into the ground if I use them
at all. I’ll wait and see how the space looks after I begin building the marble
clad wall–another trial and error phase of this project.

Tomorrow I'll start Phase
3–hewing, carving, and creating a ladder from the two aspen saplings I
found on site. I related to a story on NPR’s Fresh Air radio program today. Comedian Mike Birbiglia has teamed up
with Ira Glass of "This American Life" to co-write their first movie entitled “Sleepwalking With Me”.
Mike described this venture as being similar to telling your 7th
grade elementary class that you would be driving the bus on the field trip.
You’d assure the kids who might object, that you’re sure you can do it because
you’ve traveled in buses before, and you’ve watched a lot of bus drivers do it.
This “not knowing”, but stepping out over the edge into uncharted art making is
how I feel now as I begin the tree ladder phase tomorrow, and then the marble
wall phase. Sigh....Breathe deep...and begin slowly, patiently with tiny baby
steps. (at least that’s what I’m telling myself.) I'm whining because the deadline of September 8th is making me nervous.

BJ Honeycutt & Cecelia at the hole site

Before I close, I’d like you to
meet BJ Honeycutt from Atlanta who is in Vermont for a 2-week Buddhist retreat
at Karme Choling Meditation Center in Barnet VT. He is a member of the
Shambhala Meditation Center in Decatur. I’m also a member there. I gave him a
tour of the grounds, the quarries, my dig site, and the Sculpture School on
Sunday. We talked to several students, and some experienced stone sculptors who
were grinding, drilling, chiseling and polishing marble.

That’s it, dear readers for Day 7
and 8. I shot a couple more photos of pristine, classical marble block
buildings in West Rutland.

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Welcome

Welcome to my blog. The Interwoven Heart is an artist's search for meaning in the face of death. I am turning the gaze beneath appearances in an attempt to discover the nature of self, being and non-being. My hope is for transformation. My current paintings, drawings, earthworks and performances are visual explorations of this journey. Join me in sharing ideas, images and insights along the way.

Cecelia Kane becoming an ancient maple

Counting the Eyes on the Cosmic Heart

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About Me

I am a visual and performance artist on a spiritual path. I'm a mother and grandmother. My work is the manifestation of my search for self-definition and meaning in the face of death.
Lately I’ve been exploring the nature of being and existence in paintings and drawings that imagine Love as a multi-layered, interconnected cosmic essence inhabited by hearts, wings, eyes, plants and patterns. It is a search for God. Obsession, repetition and daily record keeping often occur in my art making process. I use my own body, clothing, fabric work, video, performance, voice, sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the intersection of good and evil and the collision of loss and transformation.